Jim Nintzel's election-filings recap is something every registered Pima County voter should read. If you're strapped for time, no worries--it's quite short, as far as Weekly cover stories go. Why, you ask? Because virtually nobody is running for public office this year.
Voters often complain about having to choose "the lesser of two (or more) evils." Well, that would be a welcomed luxury this year. NONE of the county supervisors drew a single opponent. Not even a fringe Democrat, a right-wing nutcase Republican or a lovable-loser Green. Not one.
Thus, we're left with a somewhat interesting, but presumably predictable Jim Kolbe-Randy Graf primary and a suspenseful, up-for-grabs assessor's race. Whee. This, in a word, sucks.
The bad news here is plentiful. Voters--many of who, I know, are less than thrilled with the automatically re-elected incumbents--get the shaft. It shows how broken the system is, as good people decide not to run for office because the system is so stacked in favor of the incumbents and the cash-laden, and it means there's little chance of the broken system getting fixed anytime soon.
Is there any good news in all of this? Well, there's a little. It means races for offices of a lesser profile--like county assessor, justice of the peace, etc. --will get more deserved attention. And it means fewer annoying campaign signs/ads/fliers.
But I'd gladly deal with those things if it meant we'd have more choices.
